Climate Science Misrepresented by EPA Administrator

Climate Science Misrepresented by EPA Administrator

In a series of interviews in early 2018, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Scott Pruitt misrepresented climate research indicating that rising temperatures will have widespread negative impacts, suggesting that they could actually be positive. For example, on February 6, Administrator Pruitt told a Nevada television station that “there’s assumptions made that because the climate is warming, that that necessarily is a bad thing,” but “humans have most flourished during times of . . . warming trends.” He continued: “Do we really know what the ideal surface temperature should be in the year 2100, in the year 2018? That’s fairly arrogant for us to think that we know exactly what it should be in 2100.” This echos earlier comments, made during a January 6 interview with Reuters, when Administrator Pruitt said ”The climate is changing. That’s not the debate. The debate is how do we know what the ideal surface temperature is in 2100?”

Administrator Pruitt’s comments were criticized by numerous scientists, who argued that they are at odds with the latest research. That research indicates that current surface temperatures are “ideal” and that further increases could cause widespread negative impacts.